You Can’t Get Everyone

How many friends do you have on Facebook? Now think about those friends, are they true friends? People you know and interact with on a frequent basis? Or are the people you have on Facebook distant contacts, people you have emailed once or twice on the off year, or even someone you have never spoken to but they follow you on Twitter?

The issue here is that there are people that use Facebook for things other than playing Farmville or whatever the next Zynga game is, and use it to connect with their friends or share pictures or use Facebook for what it was originally intended for. A Social Network!

As marketers we try to get to those people, tap into what their needs are and create a desire for a product or a service. But there comes a point where the users of these social networks don’t give a rat’s ass about what’s going on in the Ads sidebar of Facebook or any ad whatsoever.  Especially my generation -”Gen Y”- is so used to being bombarded with pop-ups, cause I mean, hey…we grew up with it. That simple ads must become relevant, built upon our necessities in a way that isn’t intrusive, but is interesting enough to make us click on it. No easy feat when an ad can receive a .025% Click Through Rate commonly.

One of my favorite ad platforms is Hulu’s. Every time a commercial is show, it asks, “Is this Ad relevant to you?” I use that button every time a commercial comes up! Why am I being shown an ad for birth control? I’m quite positive I’m not a female, so I click No. The next day I got a beer ad for a beer I enjoy, might have been Heineken(I think?), and what happened? I swear to you the next day I bought Heineken instead of Yuengling, a tough feat being I love my Yuengling!

The truth of it all is, not everyone wants to be engaged. Not everyone goes home opens Google Reader and starts reading 50 different blogs a day. Not everyone comments on the blogs or ReTweets on Twitter.  We cannot shut these people out of traditional marketing techniques, and at the same time we cannot make them use Social Media or Social Networks in the way we want them to.

Sure you might call me too nice about it, or not strong enough in my techniques. But that’s just it, the consumer needs to be respected, not forced and cajoled. If you’re not creating something that satisfies a need, what benefit are you giving the consumer?